Family, Fun, and Feasting

I just got back from a MUCH needed weekend!  And a fantastic one at that!  I just love my family!  When I say "Family, Fun, and Feasting," I mean LOTS of family and fun!  But there's two different kinds of feasting that happened.  Lots and lots and lots of food!  That part's always great (I think I gained about 100 pounds this weekend).  But I also literally "Feasted on the words of Christ" this weekend.

Friday we drove down to Utah and met up with Kira and Jeff for the Utah Jazz game.  They played against the Kings, who just happens to be the team Jimmer Fredette from BYU plays on.  It was kinda funny.  People at the game were almost just as loud for Jimmer than they were for Utah.  And you could tell who were BYU fans and who were U of U fans.  Cheers and boos heard all around.  Haha.  :)  But it was a VERY sad game.  Jazz didn't play oober great, but the last 30 seconds of the game were super intense!  We ended up losing by one point at the very last millisecond possible.

Saturday we watched General Conference and my uncle and his family came over to Grandma's too.  Conference is always the best!  Then we went over to Jeff's house to meet his family.

Sunday we went to the afternoon session of conference.  It's always great on TV, but there's something special about going to see conference live.

Now for the feasting.  Can I invite you to enjoy some of this deliciousness too?  :)

General Conference has always been my favorite parts of the year, especially in April.  It's always a great birthday present for me!  And this year, I got one of the greatest early birthday presents ever!  I focused more on conference this time than I've ever focused before.  Usually when I watch conference, I take notes on pretty much everything the speakers are saying.  This time, I decided to really personalize it, which made this conference something special.  I wrote down a question I had and really focused on finding my answer.  I've never really done that before, and let me tell you, IT WORKS!!!  It's fantastic!  So as I was taking notes this session, I just wrote down the personal inspirations I had, instead of main points.  I figured that I can go through later and highlight the main points when the Ensign comes out.  I found a lot of things that really pertained to me.  It felt like most of the conference was just for me!  And almost every single speaker touched on somethings that I needed to hear, and almost all of them answered my question.

Here's some thoughts that I had that really touched me:

• Heavenly Father is mindful of my needs, so I need to listen to His Spirit.  As I stay in tune with the Spirit and keep my life in order, I will receive the inspiration I need, when I need it.
• I believe Heavenly Father can help me through anything.
• I can touch the lives of others.  Be mindful of everyone and look for ways to help.
• Prepare for the Sacrament and make room for the Savior and the Holy Ghost.  Leave behind all the things of the world.  Live the Gospel Standards and let them guide my life.
• With God's help, I never have to fear for the future.  Look to the future with confidence.
• When there is a decision to make, we can make the decision we want, but if the decision really matters, we will feel the right answer.  As we live righteously, we will always be prompted to do what is right.  Communication with Heavenly Father is key.
• Bear nobly my burdens, and look for ways to help others bear theirs.
• Look for trivial decisions vs. important decisions.  We are privileged to choose for ourselves.  Reach to God for assistance.  We have divine attributes to guide our journey.  Use them!
• Replace fear with faith.  Trust God in all things.

And this isn't even my whole list.  This is just getting started!  I learned so much!  I feel great!  I am high on life!  I love this gospel with all my heart!  I have no idea where I would be without it in my life.  I can't wait for October's conference to come around now!

Time to rant again... plus some exciting news!

It's been quite a while since I've updated my life.  Probably because there's not much to update about.  Haha.  The semester got over just before Christmas, and winter is my off-track.  So I moved home and started working at Transition's again.  I still absolutely LOVE my job!  Although it's kind of boring having the same routine every day.  Get up early, go to work, come home tired, do something around the house, go to bed, repeat.  Don't get me wrong, I love being home, but life's just so much more entertaining at college.  A much bigger social life.  :)  But I'll be back in Rexburg in LESS THAN A MONTH!!!  I'm so ready to get back to classes... I know, that's weird to say.  But it'll give me something to do.  Plus, I love my major!  Special Education is my calling in life.  :)

Anyway, now to the more exciting news in my life.  Kira's engaged!  She met Jeff in Utah when she moved down in January, and now they're already planning a wedding.  Super exciting!  July 6th is the day, Rexburg Temple is the place.

Now for my next exciting bit of news... I got a piano!  In my room!  Grandma and Grandpa are moving to a retirement home next week and they gave me their electric piano.  It's pretty much the greatest.  I've figured out how to record my songs onto a program on my computer, and I realized that I can make up whole songs on the spot.  :)  Life's just great!

Not My Way

OK, so this first part's a little bit of a rant, so if you want to skip it to get to the topic of the title, go ahead.  But it kind of a lead in to my topic.  Or if you're REALLY lazy, I guess I can highlight my key points.  But don't be so lazy!  Just read it!

College is almost over, once again.  This semester has been one of the greatest, by far!  My roommates are amazing, classes have been pretty good, my grades are better than I thought they would be, and I've just grown up so much!  It's weird to look back at where I was this time last year as a first semester freshman.  I was shy, quiet, and completely shelled up in my own little bubble.  I wasn't very outgoing and I didn't really have a social life.  I was just bogged down and stressed with homework all the time.  This semester as a first semester sophomore, I'm COMPLETELY different!  I'm probably one of the loudest people in my whole apartment complex, and I'm super outgoing.  I'm still bogged down with homework, but I don't let it get in the way of my social life.  Most importantly, my testimony of my Older Brother, my Savior, Jesus Christ, has grown more than I could ever imagine!  Which leads to my topic.  

OK, now if you were silly enough to skip, go back and read it.  Or not.  Your loss.  

I've learned that I can rely fully on the Savior for help and comfort, and to put my trust completely in Him.  Seriously, all the hard parts of life really aren't that bad when you rely fully on the Lord to take care of His will.  His way is ALWAYS the best way.  There's times when we have plans for ourselves.  Plans change.  It's a fact of life.  When has there ever been a time when everything you've wanted has happened?  It just doesn't work that way.  I just had an experience where my plan didn't go my way.  I've had a dream over the past year and a half.  I've literally thought about it every single day, hoping and praying that it would come true.  I wanted to be a Young Performing Missionary in Nauvoo, IL.  I wanted to serve a mission over the summer where I would be doing what I love to do; singing and acting on stage.  I worked so hard to get it.  I practiced and practiced, and spent all day recording my audition.  I literally did everything I could have done to get in.  And then today I got an email.  Out of the 150 people who tried out, only 20 could make it.  I didn't make the cut.

But, I knew that this was not my decision.  It is ultimately the Lord's.  He will put me where I need to be, when I need to be there.  That's my new motto in life.  I clearly remember the first devotional during the Spring Semester 2011.  The quote was, "Be where you need to be, when you need to be there."  I truly believe that as I go about life doing all I can to be a faithful servant of the Lord, He will do what is best for me.  It's up to me to put my trust in Him and say, "Thy will be done, O Lord, and not mine."  I hand my life over to Him.  He knows the eternal scheme of things and where I need to be in my life.  Ever since I turned in my audition video and form, I pleaded with the Lord to let me go.  I poured my heart out to Him, saying all the reasons I should go.  But after each prayer, I ended with, "Thy will be done, and not mine."  As the day drew closer for me to hear back from them, I started to think about what would happen if I didn't make it.  I knew I would be disappointed.  I've spent literally every day for the past year and a half thinking about this.  So I began to pray for comfort if I didn't make it.  I asked Him to help me be able to accept His will.

Today I got the email.  I saw who it was from.  The ultimate truth.  This would be the deciding factor for my life next summer.  I opened it.  

"Dear Lakesha,

Thanks so much for applying to be a Young Performing Missionary in Nauvoo, Illinois.  You are wonderfully talented, and we applaud your desire to use your talents in the service of the Lord.

This year Nauvoo Productions received close to 150 applications, from which we were able to select only 20 for the Summer 2012 mission.   As you can imagine, the selection process was extremely difficult. Although we’re not able to include you in this year’s group, we encourage you to consider applying again next year.

Thanks so much for your interest, and for your willingness to serve.

We wish you the very best!"

Talk about disappointment!  I just sat there on my bed, stunned.  I really thought I had a chance.  I had felt good about this decision for so long.  Then I thought back to all my pleadings with the Lord.  Ever since I started to ask Him for help to soften the blow if I didn't make it, I realized that I felt less and less excited to go.  I realized that He was preparing me, for which I'm extremely thankful.  The Lord really does care about each and every one of us.  He wants us to be happy.  He wants us to be successful.  It's just in His time frame and His way.  

Now that I have been thinking about this all day, I feel much more comfortable with the outcome.  I'm actually happy about it.  I know now that I'm supposed to be in Rexburg.  I can look forward to more great times with Caitlin and Kelsey and my new roommates!  Who knows what will happen in the spring?  Only the Lord knows, and He did what was best for me at this time.  So am I disappointed?  Sure.  But am I going to take this positively and have faith that my life is only going to be better because of this?  Most definitely.  Not my way, but the Lord's way.  That's the only way to live my life!   

FAILURE... but Funny

So... my dear roommate Carlee and I have really outdone ourselves.  We've gotten into this thing where we like to make epic videos.  (To see some of these, click the links. Scary Cliche Movie Scenes Part 1 and the best one of all... Scary Cliche Movie Scenes Part 2.  You won't regret it.  I promise.)

Today, Carlee saw a picture on her friend's facebook wall...

So of course we had to try it out!  We go over to the BYU-I Center, aka the BUIC (pronounced like the car), where there's a nifty new elevator that talks to you.  After about 20 times riding up and down trying to get it to work--and getting laughed at because we're just riding in the elevator over and over like a bunch of kids-- we decided this probably wasn't the smartest thing we've done.  So what do we do?  We go to the library on campus and try it there too.  :)  Our reasoning?  Maybe old elevators work better with this trick than new elevators.  The answer to that is, of course, no.  We just made even more fools of ourselves, especially when people walked in the elevator during our experiment.  

Total failure.  But hilarious at the same time!  I've never had so much fun in an elevator before!  Great way to take a break from piles of homework!  Oh, the things we do.  Every moment is spontaneous with Carlee.  Refer to my post "Things I Love."   

The Gospel is like Windshield Wipers

Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.  But I don't like bugs, so I always try to be the windshield.  Seriously though, I always try to make the best out of every situation!  It's all in the attitude, so why not be happy about life?  There's no reason to NOT be happy.  Every negative situation can be turned into a positive.  Even when I'm having a awful, crummy day, I always have the Gospel.  That's what truly makes me happy.  So I guess you could say that the Gospel is like windshield wipers.  It helps me see past the bugs.  Every confusing, bad situation can be seen past with the clarity the Gospel brings to my life.  What would I do without it?  I can't even express how happy it makes me!

Things I Love

It's been awhile since I've last updated.  And a LOT of stuff has happened!  Shoot, it's already midterms, and I haven't even posted anything about college yet!  But I'll save you all the crazy details I guess.  If I said everything I've done, this will take years to read.  So here it is in a nutshell...

I love all my roommates SO MUCH!!!!  Only Christy moved out, and I miss her like crazy, but it's been fun having Mary in with us!  I've connected with my roommates tons more this semester than I ever have before!  So here's some things I love about them.

Kira:  You're my big sister, and I love ya!  You're the greatest example to me, and you have no idea how much I look up to you!  You're such a great source of strength to me!  I love that I can see you every day and talk to you about anything!  You're faith and testimony continue to pull me through, just like they always have.  You're one of the main reasons I am where I am today.  So thanks for being the best big sis ever!  I'm glad we'll be together for eternity!  (Sorry, but you're stuck with me!) 

Carlee:  Scary movies will never be the same without you.  I don't know if I'll be able to watch them without you!  They're just that more epic!  And I love all our crazy times and videos we do.  I've loved all our talks and all the times we're just crazy together.  We make spontaneous look spontaneous... if that even makes sense.  Anyway, I'm going to miss you SO much after you graduate, so you'd better continue to visit!

Kelsey:  Hey twin!  (No, literally, for anyone who doesn't know, she's exactly 1 hour and 13 minutes older than me.)  I'm lovin' our bonding moments and our talks and the random similarities we keep finding between us!  You know exactly when something is wrong and you're just the greatest at making someone feel better.  Even just seeing your face makes me just feel better!  I like our conversations that take place instead of homework... is that bad?  Maybe... IDK.  All I know is that you're super easy to talk to, and I'm glad I can talk to you about anything.  Let's stay friends/sisters, OK?  OK.

Caitlin:  Haha, I don't even know where to start!  You never cease to crack me up, especially after late night DQ runs.  And there's nothing better than to see your bright, happy, shiny face after me literally rolling out of bed and staggering into the bathroom with my eyes still closed at 6:45 in the morning.  It makes my days go even that much better!  I've loved our laughs and our crazy escapades we've had lately.  I'm feelin' the bond.  Are you?!

Mary:  I'm so glad you moved into our apartment!  I will never, ever hear the words, trippin' and strugglin' again without thinking of you.  I love how we find time to talk every day.  You truly are Mary Sunshine!  You totally bring the sunshine into our apartment, and I love it!  So don't ever change!  You're so beautiful, inside and out.

Something else I love are the totally random inspirations I receive.  This semester I've seen so many tiny miracles in my life.  I had one not even 5 hours ago!  I was trying to get a lesson ready for the kindergarten class I'm teaching tomorrow on the differences between wants and needs, and I had no idea how I was going to do it and make it a 20 minute lesson.  I sat down in the teacher's section of the library, looked over at a book on the bookshelf that said, "Early Childhood Special Ed teaching."  It made me really interested, since that's my major, but I was pressed for time, so I told myself to ignore the book and just concentrate on my lesson.  But something kept nagging at me to look at it, so I did, and the first thing I saw in there were the words, "Wants and needs."  Talk about a miracle!  But wait, it gets better.  It had a whole lesson plan and activity ideas right in there!  If there's one thing I've learned, it's to never ignore little promptings.  The make a huge difference!  I've seen little tender mercies literally every day!  You just have to pay attention!

Summer Vacation 2011

We had the BEST vacation this summer!  Kira and I were done with classes on Thursday, so we went home that day and packed all up.  Friday night we left and went down to Ogden to leave Bear with Grandma. 

Early Saturday morning, Mom and Dad rushed us out the door to drive the rest of the way to Vegas.  When we got there, it was only like 3:30, but Mom and Dad were rushing us to get our stuff into the hotel, which we had no idea why.  We still had the whole day to see the sights!  But, being the obedient children we are, we did it anyway.  In the hotel room, they made us turn around and hold out our hands behind our backs.  Now I was super curious.  They put a piece of paper in my hand, and when I looked at it, I couldn’t believe my eyes!  They bought us all tickets to see The Lion King!  And that’s why they were hurrying us so fast.  It started in less than an hour and a half, and we still had to get there. 

We had a little time before the show started, so we saw the MGM Grand.  The show was absolutely amazing!  So when that was done, we went around and saw some more sights.  We went around to most of the hotels.  There’s some pretty sweet ones!  And they’re ginormous! We saw the water show at the Bellagio, and the volcano show.  

 They were both pretty sweet, but not nearly as cool as World of Color in Disneyland!  Sunday morning we went to Sacrament meeting there at 9, then left to drive to Disneyland!!!!!  Woot woot!  The traffic was awful though.  We got stuck with all the Californians who went to Vegas for the weekend.  We spend about a half day in Disneyland on Sunday.  We did the new Little Mermaid ride in California Adventure and saw World of Color.  LOVE IT!!!!!   

We spend 6 days in there, and left Friday afternoon.  It was Lance’s birthday on Thursday, so we went to Rainforest Café.  Muy delicioso!   

We also went to the beach while we were there!  I LOVE the beach!!!  :)

We drove to Phoenix Friday night, and it’s HOT there!  At 10:00 in the morning, it was already 110 degrees!  Yuck.  I wouldn’t want to live there.  Much too hot for my likings!  We drove over to El Paso, TX to see some of the people Kira served.  We could see Juarez, Mexico from our hotel!  That’s the most dangerous city in the world right now, but El Paso’s the 10^th safest city in the US.  Weird how that works out.  But it was pretty cool.  

 We went to church in both the English and the Spanish wards.  So 6 hours of church where I only understood 3.  But it was kinda cool.  Monday morning we went over to Carlsbad Caverns.  It was the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life!  And while there, I decided to make a Bucket List.  #1 is to do the guided tours where I have to crawl, climb ladders and ropes, and use a head lamp/helmet thingie.  That was the coolest 3 hours of my life!   

We then drove over to Albuquerque for 3 days to see the people she served over there.  Our hotel was AWESOME!  They gave us one room, but it smelled like smoke, so they changed us to a penthouse!  There were 2 floors to it!  But still only 3 beds.  But it’s all good!   

Thursday, we went to the Sandia Tram, which is the longest tram in the world.  It took us up 4,000 feet to the top of the Sandia Mountains.  Pretty sweet!  Great view too. 

Then we drove over to Cortez, Colorado, and stopped at the 4 Corners on the way.   

Our hotel in Cortez was an adventure.  We’re pretty sure it wasn’t structurally sound.  And there was a sign in the bathroom warning us not to turn the bath water on all the way or we could get scalding water.  Great!  So our hotel room had the potential to kill us!  It wasn’t level either.  It scared me!  But the cool thing there was Mesa Verde National Park!  It’s a place not too far away that has ancient ruins all over the mountains!  We spent 2 days there because it was so cool!   

Then we drove back to Ogden, picked up Bear who was VERY excited to see us, and got home about 2:00 in the morning on Sunday.  So yep.  There’s our trip!  Super fun, and super long!  We clocked about 80 hours total in the car.  Yuck!   

It's never a good thing when my family gets loopy.  And we were gone a long time and had plenty of time in the car to go crazy!  We made a quote book while we were gone.  It. Is. Awesome.  Not gonna lie!  It’s got things like… “I’m sorry.” “Hakuna Matata!” (It means no worries.) … “The caveman’s not very photogenic.” and much, much, much more.  It was great!